Dog Tags
by Chel 90210
Summary: After 18 months of deployment in Afghanistan Klaus Mikaelson is finally home and ready to start a family. He quickly learns that his life in the states isn't the same as when he left it. Caroline is hiding a secret and his once strong marriage is failing. Can Klaus forgive Caroline for her sin and save their doomed marriage? Klaroline. Rated 'M'.


_After 18 months of deployment in Afghanistan Klaus Mikaelson is finally home and ready to start a family. He quickly learns that his life in the states isn't the same as when he left it. Caroline is hiding a secret and his once strong marriage is failing. Can Klaus forgive Caroline for her sin and save their doomed marriage?_

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**Dog Tags**

Holding her towel up with one hand, she rubbed the fogged mirror taking in her shaken completion. She barely slept last night and the dark rings beneath her eyes proved that.

Her appearance was the same, but the blonde haired, blue-eyed woman that Klaus married wasn't there anymore. She feared he would see right through her and felt sick at the thought of him coming home to her like this.

The funny thing about life is you change before you even realize it. She didn't intend on this to happen. She didn't plan any of it. Sometimes these things _just happen. _

He talked about starting a family in his letters. He wanted to finally start their life, but she wasn't ready. She feared that she would never be ready with him.

She hated herself for falling out of love. She hated that she became someone else while he was gone. How can you love so fiercely to only have it fall apart so quickly after?

Fear. She feared his death so many times. It made her sick to think about not having him in her life. Turning her emotions elsewhere seemed ideal at the time, but she forgot herself in the process.

The three-bedroom house they lived in felt cold when he left. It felt even worse now that he was coming home again and knowing what she did in their home made it all worse.

She pulled her wedding rings out of the drawer and placed them on her finger. They felt heavy and foreign. She didn't wear them all the time and knew that there was no way she could face him today, but she didn't have a choice.

_You had months to prepare for this day, Caroline._

She constantly pushed the thought of today out of her mind and now that she had to face it, she wasn't ready. She knew what she was getting into when she started it all, but the guilt didn't set in until this very moment.

Klaus was back for good this time. No more deployment, no more going over seas. She should be ecstatic _right?_

She should be happy about his promotion and all the new perks that came along _right?_

Caroline didn't deserve him. She didn't deserve anyone. How could she come clean when he'd be so happy to see her? This would ruin everything they worked to achieve together. She knew she needed to tell him the truth.

She _wouldn't. _She _couldn't._

When the time came she would tell him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it now.

She told herself she would tell him within a week. She would at least allow him a week of happiness. Caroline just didn't know if she would be able to give him that. He would see right through her. It broke her heart to lie to him about the last eighteen months of her life.

He'd been through enough in Afghanistan. He endured far more than she ever would in her life and now _this. _He would never forgive her.

She tried to convince herself when she saw him it would be fine. She tried to tell herself that it would be like he never left.

_But he did _and neither of them could control that. She knew he would've never left her unless he had to. He didn't have a choice and she took advantage of his absence.

But shouldn't she feel guilty for what she did? Shouldn't she _feel something, anything? _

The sick part is that she didn't. She felt nothing for him anymore. And it only took eighteen months to change that.

A light knock came at the door and Caroline quickly put her robe on. "One second!" She screamed through the door.

Opening it, she found Rebekah, Klaus' sister standing before her. She grinned ear to ear, sporting her best red, white and blue attire.

"Nervous?" She asked, excitingly.

"I'm really nervous," Caroline wasn't lying. She was just nervous for all the wrong reasons. "When are we leaving?"

"Half-hour," She told her.

Caroline gasped. _That soon? _

"Don't worry care bear, I'm sure if you showed up in a paper bag my brother wouldn't care. He hasn't seen you in _eighteen months._" She rested her hand on Caroline's shoulder. "So hurry and get ready so we can get to the airport!"

She straightened her hair, put on her make up and quickly dressed. She walked downstairs and the entire how was full of people. His entire family had been planning his homecoming for weeks.

His mother, Esther hired a caterer and they were busting ass to set everything up. She felt guilty for not helping. She felt as if she should have been the once to plan it, but she didn't

His family didn't think anything of it. Her excuse of 'work overload' seemed to suffice. She caught herself making excuses a lot lately and knew there was only so long before her excuses wouldn't work anymore.

She opened the two-door garage and unlocked the door to her range rover. The family insisted on Caroline driving alone.

She knew _why _and didn't really protest, but right now she wished she would have. The airport was a twenty-minute drive and every single minute would be agonizing. His flight was due to land at ten and it was already almost nine.

She rushed into the airport and other families were already gathering for the arrival of their loved ones. She found Klaus' family and stood next to them.

His mother, father, sister and all of his brothers were here to greet him. The rest of the people were waiting for him at home. Time seemed to pass slowly and everyone in the terminal grew anxious.

She heard his plane number being called over the loudspeaker and the room erupted with cheers.

Her body tensed. She would be face to face with him in less than ten minutes. She could feel Rebekah jumping up and down, Esther already starting crying and Elijah was fidgeting in anticipation.

Caroline just wanted to leave the room, throw up and pass out. She couldn't do this. The door swung open and Rebekah grabbed onto her arm.

The soldiers came out one by one and were greeted warmly by their families. It seemed like hours passed before she came face to face with him.

He was decked out in his military attire. He looked different, bigger than she remembered. Her eyes met his and she couldn't help but smile at him.

He dropped his bag and began to walk towards her. She followed his lead and met him a halfway. He picked her up and spun her in circles.

He was definitely stronger than he was eighteen months ago. His grip choked her. He rested her back down and grabbed her by the face. "Are you real?" He asked as if he seen a ghost. She swallowed, slowly. Every move he made was making her nervous.

Without allowing her to respond, he fully kissed her on the lips. The kiss was exhilarating, but felt _so _wrong at the same time.

He fisted her hair and she gasped when he took her bottom lip with his teeth. He allowed his tongue entrance and Caroline feared she would melt on the spot.

She didn't deserve to feel _this good, _but that's always how he made her feel. She eagerly kissed him back, not knowing if this would be one of the last times they shared something this special.

He hugged her again and whispered in her ear, "I'm going to made love to you tonight for hours," He promised. "I love you." He told her.

She couldn't bring herself to say it back and was saved by his family storming by his side and taking over. She pulled away allowing them time to see him. She half smiled at his presence.

Seeing him was better than she thought it was going to be and that made the entire situation ten times more appalling. She hoped that she would feel nothing when she saw him.

It was so easy to fall out of love when he wasn't there. It was easy to tell herself that while he was gone. But she was blown away when she saw him. It hit her like a tornado.

Her feelings may have changed, but the chemistry was definitely still there. It scared her. It scared her more than she knew.

After a few moments, she noticed his gaze drifted back towards hers. He excused himself from his family and went back over to her. He grabbed her hand and kissed it.

"Let's go home," He pulled her out of the airport and she took him to her car. Getting in the driver's seat, she tried to mentally prepare herself for the ride home. Although it was short, she was nervous.

She wasn't ready to be hammered with five thousand questions about what she did while he was gone. She told him what he needed to know and nothing more. Sometimes, she even made things up because she ran out of things to talk about.

She started the engine and was startled when he placed his hand on her thigh. He chuckled, thinking nothing of it.

She pulled out of the parking lot and the car was silent. Caroline didn't make an effort to start the conversation.

"Are you okay?" He asked genuinely concerned.

She offered him a half smile. "Just under the weather." She lied.

He looked at her questioningly, but accepted it. He didn't want to push her today. He knew that she must have been a wreck waiting for him to come home.

"I'm happy to be home, baby." He smiled, leaned over and kissed her on the neck.

"I'm happy you're here too." She told him. "So is everyone else." He smiled at her again, but this time it didn't reach his eyes.

She didn't ask him about it and they continued the rest of the ride in silence. She wasn't being honest with him and she knew there was no way she could be sincere around him until he knew the truth.

It was starting to eat her alive and Klaus had already been home for less than an hour.

They pulled into the garage and Caroline cut the engine before closing the garage. She sat there for a second about to get out, but he made no effort to move.

She felt his lingering gaze. "Baby, I know that you're sick, but if something was wrong you would tell me right?" He grabbed her hand and rubbed it soothingly. He knew something was up. She could feel it.

"I would," She told him and this time she wasn't lying. She just wasn't ready to tell him yet.

"You're not acting like yourself and I know when something's bothering you." He took her hand in both of his and looked at her. "I wished I hadn't left and I regret every single second of not being with you."

She did too. She didn't blame him for her actions, but she felt like if he hadn't left, none of this would've happened.

She stepped out of the car and Klaus eventually followed. He allowed her to walk ahead of him and before she could open the door he spun her around and pulled her in his embrace.

He backed them against the wall of the garage and hitched her leg around his thigh. He pushed up her dress, feeling every single inch of her body. He fiercely took her lips with his own and smiled at how they perfectly fit together.

He palmed her breasts above the fabric and loved how she was responding to him. She knew he would take her right here if given the chance, but she knew she couldn't go through with it.

She pushed him away slowly and grabbed his face in between both of her hands. He looked at her, irritated.

"You're friends and family are waiting in there for you," She told him.

He shook his head and began to kiss her again, "I don't care. You're the only person I care about seeing right now," He hoisted her other leg up, holding her against the wall with his full body weight.

He reached down in between her center and felt her heat with his hands. She moaned at the contact.

"_Klaus,_" She whispered. She wanted to stop, but her body was betraying her slowly. He unzipped his pants and moved her panties aside. She froze when she realized that he was going in _raw. _

She had stopped taking her birth control when he left. She wasn't ready for the consequences of unprotected sex. That thought alone pulled her out of Klaus' drunken haze.

"Stop," She placed her hands on his chest and fought to push him away.

He reluctantly pulled back and looked back at her, hurt. "I'm sorry," She put her head down. "I can't do this right now."

Letting her legs fall back to the ground, they both silently composed themselves. She hated herself for stopping it.

He remained there quietly. The full week of happiness she wanted to give him was unraveling faster than she planned.

"I know you want to start a family, but we need to talk about it first." _Well, that didn't sound any better. _

"Right," He put his hands in his pockets and forced himself to walked away from her. He would give her the space she needed, but he knew that if she didn't start explaining her weird behavior, he would lose it. Opening the door, he joined the party that with a genuine smile with all thoughts of Caroline momentarily pushed to the back of his mind

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**AN: **

**I plan on fully paying attention to this story after I finish Marriage of Convenience. I wanted to give you guys the first chapter just to let you know what I have in mind for my next fic.**

**I will post another chapter for this when I get about halfway through my other one. **

**So please review and let me know what you think. This story isn't meant to be happy the whole way through. There is a lot of grief and angst, but everything will eventually work out. You guys just need to trust me.**

****And if someone would make me a poster for this fic, I would be very happy!**


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